World Cup 2026 - 48 teams

Crossie

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I've pretty much abandonned to follow international tournaments and the related qualifications. These new rules reassure me to stay absent.
 

Samid

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Should have been more spots for UEFA. Less for Concacaf, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
 

Snow

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So FIFA just released a press statement detailing how many teams per federation will qualify in 2026:

AFC: 8 teams
CAF: 9 teams
CONCACAF: 6 teams
CONMEBOL: 6 teams
OFC: 1 team
UEFA: 16 teams

2 additional teams will qualify through playoffs. These involve 1 team per federation (0 UEFA teams) plus an additional team from the host nation's federation. 2 of those 6 teams will be seeded and play the winners of the first round matchups.

I still don't get why CONMEBOL gets as many teams as CONCACAF. Are they this scared that the USA could mess up and not qualify?
You've got it the other way around. CONCACAF is the North American federation.

Don't know why UEFA just doens't get 18 teams so that the top 2 from each group qualifies automatically and therefor no need for playoffs there. Same could be said for the African qualification, bumping it up to 10 instead of 9. 6 teams from the CONCACAF is too much and 70% of the CONMEBOL could qualify.

AFC: 50% increase of guaranteed spots. 17,4% of the total teams in the qualifiers.
CAF: 80% increase. 17% of the total teams.
CONCACAF: 100% increase. 17,1% of the total teams.
CONMEBOL: 50% increase. 60% of the total teams.
OFC: From 0 to 1. 9% of the total teams.
UEFA: 23% increase. 30,7% of the total teams.
 

Nighteyes

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Take a spot from a team in the top 30 and give it to a team in the top 130. Ok then.
Lets not even bother with qualifications then. Top 48 ranked teams go through. Alternatively, let's not even bother with other teams. Invite the best teams from Europe and SA and let them battle it out.
 

Snow

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Lets not even bother with qualifications then. Top 48 ranked teams go through. Alternatively, let's not even bother with other teams. Invite the best teams from Europe and SA and let them battle it out.
Yea, that's what I was saying.
 

Samid

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FIFA ranking top 48 countries representation:
Europe 26
Africa 9
CONMEBOL 8
CONCACAF 3
Asia 2
Oceania 0

People wanting to take spots from Europe and give them to fecking Asia and Oceania. This is a football world cup, not a carnival or a cultural festival.
 

anant

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So FIFA just released a press statement detailing how many teams per federation will qualify in 2026:

AFC: 8 teams
CAF: 9 teams
CONCACAF: 6 teams
CONMEBOL: 6 teams
OFC: 1 team
UEFA: 16 teams

2 additional teams will qualify through playoffs. These involve 1 team per federation (0 UEFA teams) plus an additional team from the host nation's federation. 2 of those 6 teams will be seeded and play the winners of the first round matchups.

I still don't get why CONMEBOL gets as many teams as CONCACAF. Are they this scared that the USA could mess up and not qualify?

If this includes the host nation, what happens if New Zealand is the host? Do the other oceania teams not take part in qualifying?
If this doesn't include the host, these are 46 teams + 2 teams that qualify from the playoffs. No automatic qualifying spot for the hosts?
 

Nighteyes

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FIFA ranking top 48 countries representation:
Europe 26
Africa 9
CONMEBOL 8
CONCACAF 3
Asia 2
Oceania 0

People wanting to take spots from Europe and give them to fecking Asia and Oceania. This is a football world cup, not a carnival or a cultural festival.
Yes, it's a World cup. Not the Euros.
 

uamini

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If this includes the host nation, what happens if New Zealand is the host? Do the other oceania teams not take part in qualifying?
If this doesn't include the host, these are 46 teams + 2 teams that qualify from the playoffs. No automatic qualifying spot for the hosts?
Automatic qualifying spot for the host, one less spot for everyone else in that confederation.
So if New Zealand were to ever stage a World Cup that would mean OFC would get 0 guaranteed and 2 playoff spots; that's what teams would be fighting for.
 

uamini

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glad to see OFC finally have 1 guaranteed spot. Was an absolute farce that in a world cup you could have one continent entirely absent from proceedings. Should be at least 2 imo.
Why should OFC get 2 guaranteed spots? The entire region has 17 million inhabitants.
 

Globule

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Take a spot from a team in the top 30 and give it to a team in the top 130. Ok then.
I'd rather see Tahiti in the World Cup than another European team that simply coasted through qualification because it's harder to not qualify.
 

anant

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Automatic qualifying spot for the host, one less spot for everyone else in that confederation.
So if New Zealand were to ever stage a World Cup that would mean OFC would get 0 guaranteed and 2 playoff spots; that's what teams would be fighting for.
Oh ok, so basically NZ always qualify, unless some pacific island hosts the WC.
But what happens if two island nations in the pacific decide to host the WC?
 

Nighteyes

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Why should OFC get 2 guaranteed spots? The entire region has 17 million inhabitants.
Why not? Would be nice to have different teams in there. 2 from one continent seems fair. They have less than 1 right now ffs
 

uamini

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You want Turkey (ranked 16th in Europe, 26th overall) to be replaced by Tahiti (ranked 2nd in Oceania, 149th overall). Fantastic logic.
I was wondering if Turkey would consider joining the AFC now...they'd qualify for the World Cup each time.
 

Nighteyes

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You want Turkey (ranked 16th in Europe, 26th overall) to be replaced by Tahiti (ranked 2nd in Oceania, 149th overall). Fantastic logic.
Yes. My logic is I want to see teams from around the world.
 

lsd

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Based on FIFA's rather terrible world cup ranking this would give us the following line up:

Egypt
Senegal
Cameroon
Burkina Faso
Tunisia
Congo DR
Nigeria
Ghana
Cote D'Ivoire

Mexico
Costa Rica
USA
Panama
Honduras
Haiti

Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Uruguay
Peru

New Zealand

Iran
Korea Republic
Japan
Australia
Saudi Arabia
Uzbekistan
UAE
Qatar

Germany
Belgium
France
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
Wales
Portugal
England
Italy
Croatia
Netherlands
Iceland
Ireland
Slovakia
Turkey


Playoffs:
Ecuador (22)
Morocco (49)
St. Kitts and Nevis (73)
Curacao (74) [if the World Cup ends up taking place in the USA]
China (86)
Taihiti (149)


Looks like the playoffs would be a rather easy matchup for South American teams. The same thing would apply to a European team whenever there's a World Cup in Europe.

That would be horrible ..I would dread to think how dull the first few rounds would be.... then how dull the rest of it would be too i suppose

It's like sticking ten non league teams in the premiership just to get more games
 

uamini

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Why not? Would be nice to have different teams in there. 2 from one continent seems fair. They have less than 1 right now ffs
So how many spots should India get? They're a sub-continent and their population is 100 times bigger.
 

Globule

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You want Turkey (ranked 16th in Europe, 26th overall) to be replaced by Tahiti (ranked 2nd in Oceania, 149th overall). Fantastic logic.
Why give Oceania any places at all then? While we're at it, Asia's nations are pretty lowly in the ranking tables, and don't get me started on Concacaf.
 

Globule

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Europe 38
South America 7
Africa 2
Host 1

Proper.
Screw it. Let's just make the world cup a one-off final between the European Cup and Copa America winners. The rest of the world can take part in a competition to see which country gets to provide the officials.

Edit: I should point out that I know you were kidding and I was just joining in. I didn't think that was necessary until I saw the poster above take you seriously.
 

KM

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So how many spots should India get? They're a sub-continent and their population is 100 times bigger.
Indian sub continent contains 6 countries. India is just a one country, get your fact rights before making a point.
 

Mrs Smoker

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Based on FIFA's rather terrible world cup ranking this would give us the following line up:

Egypt
Senegal
Cameroon
Burkina Faso
Tunisia
Congo DR
Nigeria
Ghana
Cote D'Ivoire

Mexico
Costa Rica
USA
Panama
Honduras
Haiti

Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Uruguay
Peru

New Zealand

Iran
Korea Republic
Japan
Australia
Saudi Arabia
Uzbekistan
UAE
Qatar

Germany
Belgium
France
Portugal
Spain
Switzerland
Wales
Portugal
England
Italy
Croatia
Netherlands
Iceland
Ireland
Slovakia
Turkey


Playoffs:
Ecuador (22)
Morocco (49)
St. Kitts and Nevis (73)
Curacao (74) [if the World Cup ends up taking place in the USA]
China (86)
Taihiti (149)


Looks like the playoffs would be a rather easy matchup for South American teams. The same thing would apply to a European team whenever there's a World Cup in Europe.
Quite colourful! Like it a lot.
 

Globule

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I know. I bet New Zealand are laughing their asses of at Autralia right about now
Is there anything stopping them going back to Oceania with their tail between their legs? Or is the extra money and better competition they face on a more regular basis still worth their while.